Kelsey Hatcher, a 32-year-old mom of three was born with a rare uterine anomaly called uterus didelphys, or two uteruses. However, she was not diagnosed with the condition until last spring, when she discovered she was pregnant – in each uterus.

Hatcher said her husband almost didn’t believe her.

“He said: ‘You’re lying,’ I said: ‘No, I’m not,” Hatcher told NBC News.

Uterus didelphys affects about 0.3% of women. The abnormality forms in the female embryo very early in development, around eight weeks gestation, according to fertility researchers.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    87
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    Uh, isn’t that going to be a major complication for all parties involved? For pregnancy and delivery I mean.

    • DreamButt
      link
      English
      2710 months ago

      It’s Alabama so they won’t be getting help either way

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      1010 months ago

      Depends on how well formed the uteruses are. If they’re both healthy, it should be fine. You would be amazed at the ways a person’s body changes to accommodate pregnancies. Idk why this would be any more risky than, say, twins or triplets.

      • @xX_fnord_Xx
        link
        1410 months ago

        At the Science and Industry museum in Chicago they have/had step by step see-through models of a woman’s guts before, during, and after pregnancy.

        I took a date there and we had a great time. Arrived at that exhibit and we just stood there for a minute, witnessing how jumbled up the post pregnancy innards were.

        I said, “I’ll never do that to you.”

        She said, “Thank you.”

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          210 months ago

          Haha yeah, pregnancy can be amazing from an objective “wow, humans can really do that, huh?” perspective and also horrifying from a subjective “I’m sorry, you said my intestines are where??” perspective 🥲

          As someone who decided to be pregnant for the first time right now, I definitely have a healthy heaping of both—at the same time even! It’s a wild and sometimes darkly hilarious experience.

      • @ChexMax
        link
        110 months ago

        I’m thinking delivery has got to be way more complicated? The hormones that trigger childbirth might trigger both? But maybe with a special c section everything will be fine?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          110 months ago

          Planned induction could also be a way they could go. Induce one, then the other, or else c-section for one or both as mom prefers and doctors feel is safe. Maybe slightly more complicated, but not necessarily more complicated than normal birth. Birth can get pretty wild anyway, or it can go super smooth! Hoping for the best for this family, especially being in Alabama

  • @the_q
    link
    40
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    deleted by creator

      • Cethin
        link
        fedilink
        English
        210 months ago

        Why are you so defensive about a state? It isn’t a part of your personality. You should be fine with someone joking about it and you should also critique it always so it can be improved.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          310 months ago

          Yeah, if these were Kenyan or Chinese or Indian babies and we made the same disparaging joke, nobody would mind or declare racism or xenophobia. It would still be laugh out loud hilarious.

          • @aidan
            link
            110 months ago

            I know you’re being satirical but I suspect at least some of the upvotes don’t realize given how good this site seems to be with sarcasm.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          -14
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          It’s a tired old cliche, mostly used by dimwits, of little imagination, to feel superior, to something, anything, in a safe way, that won’t get them called bigots.

          • Taco
            link
            fedilink
            English
            910 months ago

            Oh hey, you’re that guy who uses too many commas!

          • Cethin
            link
            fedilink
            English
            4
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            As someone who’s family is from West Virginia, it’s really not a big deal. I’ve heard all the incest jokes there are. They’re silly jokes that no one is saying seriously. Some people just need thicker skin.

          • @the_q
            link
            2
            edit-2
            8 months ago

            deleted by creator

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    3611 months ago

    For med school students who waste time here. A question.

    These are not technically twins, right?

    • @bcron
      link
      5011 months ago

      Not a med school student but fraternal twins come from 2 separate zygotes - 2 different eggs and 2 different sperm cells. If you disregard the whole ‘two uteri’ aspect they’d be twins, fraternal twins, dizygotic. It’s all two eggs being fertilized at the same time, right?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        1111 months ago

        What happens if the pregnancies were, say, 5 months apart? What kind of complications would there be?

        • Horsey
          link
          fedilink
          27
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          A natural birth consists of a bunch of hormonal changes that initiate the process (similar to a medically induced abortion); I’d be super surprised if the younger fetus doesn’t abort when the older one is birthed on time.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            911 months ago

            I was going to ask if other animals were capable of multiple simultaneous pregnancies, but then I figured I should probably just google it.

            Interestingly I found that it has indeed happened to humans, but it confirms your idea, because in the latest documented example, the children were born at the same time.

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfetation

            • Horsey
              link
              fedilink
              -1
              edit-2
              10 months ago

              All mammals that give birth in litters have one large and “lumpy/compartmentalized” uterus. Opossums (not mammals) for example have a forked reproductive tract which forks in the vaginal canal with two distinct “halves” leading to a different uterine compartment. I don’t think there’s any animal with two completely separate uteruses; please correct me if there is one though 😛

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                11
                edit-2
                10 months ago

                Opossums are mammals, just not placental mammals. Marsupials are in the class of mammals, and kangaroos have two separate uteruses

                • @seth
                  link
                  310 months ago

                  True, and let’s also not leave out our fellow eggy mammals, the magnificent monotremes!

          • Perhyte
            link
            English
            110 months ago

            That does not necessarily preclude the younger child’s survival after delivering the older child via C-section though. Presumably if the aim was survival of both fetuses that would be the route taken?

            I’d be more curious how that second pregnancy even happened though. AFAIK a natural conception isn’t usually possible during pregnancy because no eggs are released. It might be possible via IVF or something, but who would you take that risk?

            • Horsey
              link
              fedilink
              210 months ago

              If they went that route, they’d probably have to block the hormonal pathway associated with labor induction anyway (because as the older fetus ages it will start that cascade toward the end of the pregnancy). Theoretically, I bet you could deliver the oldest with a c-section followed by another’s few months later, but you’re really putting the mother’s life at risk because the healing time between c-sections being 6 weeks at minimum. Continuing the second pregnancy for another 5 months could cause internal bleeding.

        • @WeeSheep
          link
          210 months ago

          Pregnancy hormone HCG caused ovulation to stop its normal cycle. Essentially, their are either the same age or the first pregnancy already ended and needs to be removed, but due to complications the younger embryo probably won’t make it either.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        311 months ago

        It’s all two eggs being fertilized at the same time, right?

        According to the article, they didn’t need to be but likely were. Makes sense, thanks.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      710 months ago

      Basically, they are only twins if they are born on the same day, because the concept of fraternal twins is basically being born from the same woman on the same day. Identical twins with the split egg after insemination are the only real “twins” biologically (except clones, generally illegal). There’s also roman twins, but those are pretty rare, because it involves a woman releasing two eggs but having intercourse with two different men in a roughly 48 hour time period, resulting in half brother fraternal twins.

  • geogle
    link
    3110 months ago

    Two utes?

    • osarusan
      link
      fedilink
      -210 months ago

      We’re speaking English, so no, although it’s commonly accepted. If you’re speaking Latin, though…

        • osarusan
          link
          fedilink
          410 months ago

          Because dictionaries reflect how people use words, and people use the words that way.

          Webster also lists “octopi” as a plural of octopus, which is completely wrong because the plural of pus is podes. But people say “octopi” anyway, so you’ll find it in the dictionary.

    • @LaunchesKayaks
      link
      1110 months ago

      My body tries to grow extra uteruses, but can only make the inside bits, and attaches those bits wherever it wants to.

      Gotta love endometriosis.

  • @riodoro1
    link
    -110 months ago

    Five kids, great for the climate!

    • @telllos
      link
      010 months ago

      Bit good for the cult

  • @answersplease77
    link
    -510 months ago

    Does this mean she has two vaginas? Will she give birth out of seperate vaginas to each baby?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      1210 months ago

      I have a sneaking suspicion that if she had two vaginas she might have realised somewhere before child number 4.

    • girlfreddyOP
      link
      610 months ago

      Seeing as she’s had 3 kids already, it’d be silly to think she would have 2 vaginas when she was only recently diagnosed as having 2 uterus.